ADESA Houston, Auto Placement Center Lead Storm Relief Effort

    HOUSTON--July 23, 2001--In what has been deemed one of the worst storms in U.S. history, Tropical Storm Allison brought over six days of rain and flooding that led to at least 43 deaths from Texas to New England. More than 20,000 families still remain victimized by the flood. According to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Tropical Storm Allison was "a tragedy of very large proportions." As a result, crews have been working nonstop since mid June throughout Houston to clean up the aftermath.
    At the peak of the storm related activity, ADESA Houston and Auto Placement Center (APC) processed approximately 1,000 flood damaged vehicles per week since mid June at the request of one of the largest national automobile insurers. Each total loss vehicle title will be branded as flood damaged total loss to ensure proper disclosure of the vehicle's condition. Those vehicles will be auctioned during special flood sales at ADESA Houston beginning August 14 and continuing each Tuesday until every vehicle is sold.
    "Due to the overwhelming volume of flood related total loss vehicles in the Houston area, APC and ADESA were asked to assist in the retrieval, storage and disposition processing required," said Patrick Walsh, vice president of western operations for APC. "Requests were sent electronically to APC's national call center based in Clinton, ME where pick-up and delivery arrangements were coordinated."
    Total loss vehicles will be stored at ADESA Houston and an additional facility near ADESA Houston until the titles are processed. ALL VEHICLES HAVE BEEN DEEMED TOTAL LOSS AND WILL BE SOLD AND BRANDED ACCORDING TO THE TOTAL LOSS LAWS OF THE STATE OF TEXAS.
    "Licensed total loss vehicle dealers will have a large selection of high-end makes and models," said Martin Rawls, general manager of ADESA Houston. "It's a massive effort and ADESA plans to sell approximately 500 vehicles per week throughout a two month long process."
    Operating in the U.S. and headquartered in East Providence, Rhode Island, APC is an ALLETE Automotive Services company providing auction and management programs for total loss and worn out vehicles serving insurance, financial, leasing and nonprofit organizations.
    Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, ADESA Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE , a unique and diversified multi-services company. ADESA operates 54 wholesale vehicle auctions and five commercial truck sales strategically located across the United States and Canada. In addition, the Automotive Services segment of ALLETE operates several other related businesses in the vehicle remarketing industry including total loss recovery services, Automotive Finance Corporation (AFC) dealer financing, Great Rigs auto transporters, PAR remarketing services, AutoVIN Inspection Services and ADESA Importation Services (AIS).

    The statements contained in this release and statements that ADESA may make orally in connection with this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The forward-thinking statements involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks in documents filed by ALLETE, ADESA Corporation's parent company, with the Securities and Exchange Commission.